INNOVATION INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT: AMY MORAM

In this issue of OneGurit, we speak with Amy Moram, Global Chemical Regulatory Compliance Manager, based at Gurit UK. It quickly becomes apparent when speaking with her that she’s a woman who likes to get things done. Amy explains how over the last twenty years she has influenced change through her advocacy, facilitation skills and thirst for knowledge.

When Amy entered the workforce in the early 2000s, she was interested in science and knew that she wanted to work in a lab. So joining Gurit as a lab technician in the product development team was a perfect match.

“I was very fortunate to have some of the brightest minds in composites as mentors in those early days,” explains Amy. “I would have regular ‘chemistry lessons’ from our senior and experienced team members, and I grabbed every opportunity to learn, whether on a course, spending time with the technical support team, or through practical application. I guess it was an informal version of what might now be called an apprenticeship.”

Advocating for chemical compliance

“There were few regulations when I first started, but as well as lab work, I also worked on projects that involved things like Intellectual Property and safety data sheets, which rounded out my knowledge of epoxies and how we use them in our business. So when REACH was founded, I was in an ideal place to pick this up.”

REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals and came into force in 2007. It is a regulation of the

European Union, adopted to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. Later on, further regulations such as the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) ensured the safe use, transport and disposal of chemicals.

Amy has been an advocate for chemical compliance from the outset, working as part of the regulatory team as well as continuing in the lab, until she took on compliance full time in 2013. Her broad knowledge base placed her at the centre of the project to speedily get systems in place for Gurit that would meet the increasing requirements of both REACH and GHS. As a company with a very comprehensive product range, covering many regulatory requirements, this was no mean feat; but supported by Amy’s unique skillset and can-do approach, the team got it done, and it remains one of her most significant projects to date.

Combining knowledge and passion to impact Gurit’s sustainability path Her background in compliance and product development led to her becoming part of the Sustainability team at Gurit. There was a clear overlap of the company’s increasing work in sustainability with her work in chemical compliance, and her role has more recently expanded. Amy is now the sustainable product lead, where she considers not only what the products are made of, but how they’re made, how they’re packaged, regulations, life cycle analysis, bio content and product declarations. And as further testament to Amy’s ability to advocate and unite, she is also the lead for the company’s resource utilisation sustainability workstream.

“At Gurit we have a proactive approach to sustainability and this sits well with my personal mindset of driving change for the better. We want to do the right thing for the environment and our global community now, rather than wait for the regulations to dictate it. It’s complex with composites but we’ve made a start and I’m excited about what lies ahead as we think beyond the materials’ first application – we are now considering what will happen at the end of their initial life. Can they be reused, repurposed, recycled.....the challenge is that composites are structurally sound for such a long time, and we have no idea what technology will be around to facilitate end of life in the future.”

(Read the next article in this issue of OneGurit to get more of Amy’s insights into sustainability trends.)

Making STEM careers accessible to all young people

As a woman in technology, Amy takes her role as an ambassador for STEM careers very seriously. She sees her mission to be visible, for young people to see what possibilities lie out there for them in the workforce, something she didn’t have as a teenager. She wants to normalise seeing women working in labs and to ensure that all young people, but especially girls, know they can be whoever they want to be and do whatever they want to do. Amy can often be seen hosting students at the Gurit Isle of Wight site or attending career roadshows –she is even organising a ‘speed networking’ event later this year for young people in the local community.

“My advice for girls is to find what you’re interested in and run with it. The job landscape is changing and it’s hard to predict what you might be doing in 5, 10 years’ time, but if you do what you enjoy and are curious about opportunities, then the right job will find you.”